An Inheritance of Blood and Steel
by Bishonen no Hime
Summary: After Alucard disappears, Integra is left picking up the pieces of her country, her organization and her life with only Seras to aid her. When unexpected news arises, Integra is faced with a path she never expected to walk. Motherhood. Alone. *AxI, probably with bits of PxS*


Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own Hellsing or its characters, nor am I making any money from this writing.

*Spoiler Warning if you have not read/seen the end of the manga/the OVAs. If you haven't, prepare to be spoiled. Honestly, the summary would have spoiled you.

* * *

**Prologue**

The smell of the gun powder still hung in the air as Integra held her bleeding hand out above Alucard's head, watching the blood fall into his waiting mouth. His crimson eyes almost seemed to glow from under heavy lids as he knelt before her.

He was back.

The relief she felt was almost overwhelming. Despite her disputes with Seras, she had known that he would return. She had begun to fear though, that by the time he did come back, she would be gone. Thirty years was a long time during which anything could have happened to a human, let alone someone in her position. Even if circumstances hadn't forced her to stop smoking those cigars, thus halting her inevitable track to lung cancer, she could have died in some sort of freak accident. And then who would tell him about…

Integra noticed Seras shift out of the corner of her eye and berated herself mentally. She had completely forgotten Seras was in the room; Integra immediately lowered her hand until it was level with Alucard's mouth.

"That's enough for now," She said, "Seal it for me."

"Hmm, you always were stingy with your blood." Alucard remarked, but obediently ran his tongue along the bite in her flesh, clotting the wound almost instantly.

"Yes well, I do rather need it." She groused back, now with both hands on her hips. He stood with a quiet chuckle and gazed down at her, the small smirk on his face was genuine; no madness, no arrogance.

"I have missed our conversations, Integra."

Before she could respond, Seras practically threw herself at her Sire, hugging him around the waist and babbling excitedly. While she was slightly miffed about the hugging, Integra couldn't help but smile at the sight of her. She knew that Seras had missed Alucard as well, and she couldn't begrudge the Draculina some small affection.

"I always knew you would come back! I kept telling and telling Integra, but I don't think she ever believed me. Well, maybe she did, she doesn't seem overly surprised does she? Oh I can't wait to tell you everything you've missed and just wait until you meet-" Her prattle ended suddenly with a gasp, her ruby eyes going almost comically wide. Alucard raised an eyebrow at the action,

"Meet who?"

Seras' panicked gaze swung to Integra, who Alucard could see had gone very still. With a large exhale she sank back down to her bed, sitting on the edge as she had when she lectured him about how long it had taken him to return. She and Seras spoke at the same time,

"Seras would you mind-"

"I think someone's looking for me." Seras was darting from the room as she said it, trying to close the door that now hung crookedly from its hinges. She tried several times before settling for mostly closed and bolting down the hall. Alucard turned to Integra who was now pinching the bridge of her nose as if in an effort to ease a headache.

"What's going on Integra?" He questioned as he walked over towards her. She answered without looking up,

"We need to talk." She said simply, Alucard barked in laughter as he knelt in front of her. "I gathered that." He wrapped his fingers around the hand on her nose, pulling it away. He was struck by how tired she looked as her one blue eye rose to meet his gaze; she raised her other hand, cupping the side of his face with her palm. He sighed, closing his eyes and leaning into the warmth; in some way it didn't feel like he had been gone thirty years, yet at the same time he could feel every minute of it. He could clearly remember the last time he had felt the warmth of her skin, the night before he had left for that blasted carrier Rip Van Winkle had hijacked. He had been having that bizarre dream about his Jackal when Integra sent Seras to find him, since he wasn't responding to her calls through the seals. After startling Seras upon waking, he had immediately felt Integra's pulls and slipped through the shadows to her office. She had briefed him on the situation with the carrier, and then proceeded to pace back and forth across the floor, ranting about Penwood and those bastards at the Navy command who weren't listening to her and were going to send helicopters out to intercept the ship. She was heading to the command center herself in an effort to get them to listen to reason and rescind their orders. She was on edge, he could tell by the way she had paced and how fast she was speaking. It was the eve of her first war after all; it had made him positively giddy. It was a combination of emotions that drove him to intercept her mid-stride, to wrap an arm around her waist and pull her against him as his other hand, then wound in her hair, tilted her face up to meet his. They had both been wound up so tightly that the kiss proved to a sort of catalyst for the rest of the evening events. He knew he had lost the chance to turn her; to make her his Countess for eternity. But he wouldn't take her humanity from her; her will, her drive, her absolute refusal to give in…it was part of what made her so beautiful to him**.**

While he had been reminiscing, her hand had shifted up into his hair, running her long fingers through the inky darkness. Even though it was mostly straight at the moment, Integra knew that when he was totally focused on something else, the strands would try to curl and crimp. As it was naturally for him, as it was when he was human. As if in response to her thoughts, the ends in her fingers curled slightly. Integra couldn't help but smile,

"He has your hair…" she murmured. She hadn't meant to say it aloud, but she had and she felt Alucard go stone still in front of her. She brought her gaze from his hair to his face, seeing his eyes staring intently at her, darting slightly back and forth as if searching her expression for the meaning of her words. Integra couldn't repress the shudder that snaked down her spine as she felt him poke at her consciousness, it had been so long since she had felt him do that; it wasn't invasive or forceful, but it was insistent.

"Alucard, when you disappeared thirty years ago," she brought both hands to his face now, briefly studying the contrast of wrinkles and lines on her skin against his smooth, alabaster of his before meeting his gaze head on.

"I was pregnant with our son."

* * *

_**AN**_**:** Hello all! It has been a long time since I've written anything for Hellsing, or much of anything for that matter. As stated above, this is a prologue; the rest of the story will take place as a series of flashbacks. I may come back and tweak this a bit, I'm not completely thrilled with all of it. Like I said, it's been a long time since I've written. Now, to answer a few quick questions:

Yes! This is a Hellsing/Vampire Hunter D crossover.

Yes! It has been done before; most notably by StoriesFromAngelsFall –I think that was her penname- ("D for Short" and "Penance of a Monster", I miss those stories dearly!) and Talia of Eragon ("Gilded Cage", "Sol Solis Morbus" and many other wonderful stories!).

Yes! There will undoubtedly be some commonalities between my story and theirs; some topics just have to repeat when writing about this crossover (D's first experience with Sun Sickness, for example). However mine will be different in the respect that a) this is my version and b) Alucard wasn't around to help raise his son in this story.

No! I can't promise how frequently I will update this. I will do my best to update a frequently as I can.

No! This isn't beta'd and I apologize. I do my best but grammar and I are mortal enemies and if anyone would like to volunteer, I would gladly take you up on the offer.

Yes! I would love feedback. What author doesn't?

Thanks for reading!


End file.
